Age of Sigmar is the 9th Edition!

Tommorow, on the 4th of July, the Age of Sigmar will be available for pre-order. The rules have been leaked already, alongside tons of pics of minis and a couple shots of new terrain pieces.

In my last post I've said everything there needed to be said about AoS and nothing changed in that matter. More so, now that I've read the rules my ire is even greater. Combine that with the (almost certain) rumour that there will be no 9th Edition, and you can probably guess how much this whole thing pisses me off.

A lot actually

Bear in mind that this article was written, based on the info from various online sources, including Bell of Lost Souls and Guerilla Miniature Games, as well as the newest White Dwarf.

GW's new game is supposed to be fun and easy to learn, with rules printed on a total of 4 pages (seriously, this should give you all the clue of how much this game will suck) and being a "living document", available from their website for free and worked upon constantly to avoid any game breaking bugs and exploits. This is the theory at least. Problem is that they've already fucked up big time.

First of all we have Warscrolls, which are essentaily unit profiles. Now here's the best part: you can deploy as many units on the table as you like, since there are no more point restrictions. Yup, that's it. No more force org charts (I know that's more a 40K thing, but still), now my dudes can outnumber your dudes by 10 to 1 and it is all legal, fair and square. It's also completely dumb and guarantees a lot of arguing and keeping track of how many Warscrolls (Christ...) you've deployed. Keep in mind, that AoS is supposed to be a fast, skirmish game, at least in theory. Yeah....

Gone are the many stats from previous editions. Now we have only Movement, Wounds, Save and Bravery. However individual weapons also have statistics now. For example melee weapons have range. The chance to hit and to wound now relies solely on weapon in question and not WS statistics of a model. On one hand this gives a lot of possibilities for many different weapons, but for me it's a mess. Now every time my army of X guys will try to kill the enemy, I'll have to check just how many different weapons they have at their disposal. This brings unnecessary complications and micro management to the tabletop.

Then there are the infamous Warscrolls. No more armybooks to put on your shelves folks. Every box of minis will have a scroll, which will list its stats, rules etc. On one hand this will mean less money spend on game books, that can become obsolete within a couple of years. However think of the alternative: these same, expensive books, were for many people the essence of the game. Not only were they printed really well, with tons of fluff and some nice mini galleries, they just FELT right. I love having my game books on a shelf, collecting dust but also reminding me of the times when I've just begun to participate in this hobby. Now Warscrolls? Where will I put those? In a binder?

GW tried to balance the "no more points" bullshit with the "Sudden Death" special rule. If one side has a 1/3 more units than the other, the smaller faction can choose to complete a certain objective that allows it to immediately win the game. These objectives can be achieved by killing the opposing army's leader or by surviving certain amount of turns. First of all - any rule based on insta-killing the enemy in a fucking tabletop game is beyond lame. It is simply fucked up. It's not fair on so many levels I can't even comprehend it actually being in the game. Can you imagine winning against your opponent fair and square, when suddendly he gets two lucky rolls and it's game over for you? Just like that? Everyone in their right mind should be pissed. Second - it looks good on paper only, because in reality when one force ALREADY outnumbers the other by 1/3, then it is very unlikely for the losing player to pull of such a stunt. And if he does, then it is a slap to his opponent's face. Not cool!

It's like being slapped with a hammer, a really big hammer...

Terrain will apparently play a big role in AoS, some of which will have "mystical" properties. These will probably be similar to the "End Times" special terrain, about which I've written (and will continue to do so) in length during my EoT reviews. There will be a lot of new terrain pieces available soon. I wonder if they will continue with the "skulls, skulls everywhere" trend or go for something different for a change.

I guess not...

Magic will apparently be very simplified, with very few spells and less reliance on them. On one hand this is pretty good, as WFB was always putting waaaaay too much effort on casters and their craft, especially in the 8th Edition. However this time it seems that magic will be neglected to a point of almost being useless. Of course I can be wrong (and I probably am) and we shall see the final result on the 11th of July.

Finally the games played in the AoS can be turned into a demi campaigns, with next game being affected by the results of the former ones. I can see this not working really well with the whole "no points" system, but maybe various tournaments will be able to fully utilize this idea. Personally I've always liked the campaign system from the "Lustria" book, dating back to times of the 6th Edition of WFB. Both ambitious and easy to master, that was a great example of a campaign book done right. I doubt that Age of Sigmar will be able to match it.

I don't like the idea of writing anymore about this game (maybe except it's horrible fluff). Even after its release I don't envision myself analysing every crook and nanny of AoS. First of all, I'm generally pissed at it, especially now, after the rumours that there will be no 9th edition to follow its release. Secondly - both the internet leaks and articles in White Dwarf are pretty much the complete picture of this system. Some people out there tell us that it's better to have this game, then nothing, that at least with AoS the Warhammer Fantasy lives on. I disagree. If anything this game is an affront to 30 years of fantastic, unique hobby that gave us, Geeks and Fantasy enthusiasts so much. I'd rather have WFB to die in dignity than to have its legacy squandered in a vain hope of grabbing some quick and easy cash.

R.I.P. Warhammer Fantasy. You will be remembered.

Until next time

Xathrodox86